January - February 2009

Editorial: Ralph D. Winter

The background for these four global conferences celebrating the famous Edinburgh 1910 conference is both miraculous in one sense and sad in another. But things are somewhat different now. download pdf of this story

The first question is inevitably, "What happened in 1910 at Edinburgh that was so great?" Two periodicals give background about the unique nature of the 1910 meeting. See tokyo2010.org. While only one of the 2010 meetings is intentionally structured like the one in 1910, all four meetings commemorating E-1910 will have a good purpose and success. download pdf of this story

Curiously, while many professions require special training and insight and have large meetings of their practitioners from time to time to compare notes and share knowledge, the role of a cross-cultural mission agency, has not often merited that kind of meeting on the global level. On the national level, in the United States, it was not until 1891 that the Foreign Mission Conference of North America (FMCNA) came together. Today we have in the USA at least two associations of mission agencies with large annual meetings of member agency executives, the CrossGlobal Link (formerly IFMA) and The Mission Exchange (formerly EFMA), both with around 100 member agencies. (Nothing like the India Mission Association with nearly 300 member mission agencies!) download pdf of this story

During GNCWM’s heyday in the late 1980s, it had identified close to 40 such centers worldwide. At one such meeting in Singapore (hosted by the Singapore Centre for Evangelism and Missions), 33 representatives of 12 centers and 5 other organizations discussed how to bring synergy and to plan for the network’s future. The 1986 "Singapore Statement on the Global Network of Centres for World Mission" defines a center for world mission as an "interdenominational, inter-mission organization working in a supporting role for the cause of World Evangelization and especially for the reaching of the unreached peoples." It also reads that a "Centre for World Mission" is intended to fill a gap not being filled by other mission organizations. The Statement also includes the aspiration to collaborate with the existing global entities such as the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and the Missions Commission of the then World Evangelical Fellowship (now World Evangelical Alliance). download pdf of this story

Mission Cooperation Goes Global Rick Wood

For this special issue of Mission Frontiers, we talked to Dr. Yong Cho, international director of the Global Network of Mission Structures (GNMS) about his role and vision for this new world-level initiative. For our readers, we have included some excerpts from that recent interview below. MF: Dr. Cho, you have quite a remarkable background as a field missionary, then international director of a global mission agency (Global Partners), then general secretary of the World Korean Missionary Fellowship and now director of the GNMS. Tell us a little about your journey and how God has prepared you for this new role. download pdf of this story

These weblinks were provided courtesy of Latourette Library. A missions library available to all. www.wciu.edu/library. download pdf of this story

"Church planting is easy!" we thought. Within a few months of landing in a North African city, we already had a group of men and women meeting in our home. Joining that fellowship were some Muslim-background believers who had previously come to faith in the Lord through the testimony of others. We lined our living room with couches, in the local style, served sweet mint tea, and wore djellabas. We hoped a contextualized fellowship could grow into a solid church. Tim, a seminary graduate, functioned as the pastor, but rotated leadership. We sang and studied the Bible in English, Arabic, and French. The participants came from Berber, Arab, French, Spanish, Scottish, and American backgrounds. We even collected an offering for the poor. We thought we had planted a truly multi-cultural New Testament house church. download pdf of this story

Foundations of the World Christian Movement Terry Harris

Foundations of the World Christian Movement is a 3-unit online course that has been instrumental in providing students with challenging insights into the Christian movement and its impact on world history. Epoch events situated into 400 year periods, chronicles the global development and the Christian faith’s lasting influence on Western and non-Western culture. download pdf of this story

I am currently an overseas student pursuing a Masters in International Development from William Carey International University. I have been studying for the last 9 months and just started on my first research paper while in a new culture. Part of my research was to conduct some local interviews with Muslims to get their perspective on monotheism and their perspective on Christianity. Specifically I asked the question, "Do Muslims consider Christianity to be monotheistic like Islam?" download pdf of this story

The Church of Jesus Christ is a vast voluntary society spread across the world. It consists of several billion people who come together for the purpose of carrying out the Great Commission. In John 17, Jesus prayed for those who would become believers in generations to come. How did this globally expanding band of believers come into being? In some ways it is like a vast volunteer army of committed individuals, families, clans, extended families, congregations and denominations resulting from the work being done by zealous "evangelists." They travel the world looking for recruits to voluntarily join the cause of Christ. Unfortunately, a few times in history, people were forced to declare their allegiance to the church, but that is not the way Jesus intended it to be. download pdf of this story

The Fourth Edition of Perspectives on the World Christian Movement is ready for Perspectives extension classes in January, 2009. Leaders of the Perspectives Study Program have been working since the fall of 2006 to update and refine the curriculum. A core team of five people worked with many of the larger community at the USCWM in Pasadena. Dozens of Perspectives coordinators across the country and the world were frequently consulted during the process. download pdf of this story

"Whatever skills you have, you will use them on the mission field." I can't remember when I first heard that but it was probably 30 years ago—and from a field missionary. At the time, I thought about using my skills in photography, or stained glass or in keeping old cars working. Later I thought about my experience running a small off-set printing press (that challenged my spiritual walk so much, that I kept quiet about it later!). download pdf of this story